Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool: Arsenal more disciplined despite a rotated side

February 18, 2014

The starting line-ups

Arsenal narrowly won an extremely open cup tie.

Arsene Wenger rested various players ahead of the meeting with Bayern on Wednesday. The most interesting inclusion was striker Yaya Sanogo, making his first start.

Brendan Rodgers brought back Daniel Agger in place of Kolo Toure, selected Joe Allen rather than Jordan Henderson, and also gave a runout to reserve goalkeeper Brad Jones.

Arsenal were much improved compared to last weekend, particularly in terms of positioning and organisation.

Gerrard freedom

The game’s first obvious feature was the freedom enjoyed by Steven Gerrard when Liverpool had possession. He sat deep in front of his centre-backs and hit some excellent forward passes – often to the flanks, but he also played a brilliant through-ball to Daniel Sturridge for the game’s first chance.

Mesut Ozil had little interest in shutting him down, and it was also significant that Arsenal were playing with two deep midfielders who protected the defence, rather than more attacking central midfielders (like Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey) that might have pressured higher up. Arsenal’s two banks of four were solid, but Gerrard created from in front of them.

Sturridge runs

While Arsenal dominated the first half, in the opening stages they struggled to cope with Sturridge, who had two fine chances at 0-0. The timing of his runs is excellent, and he often starts them from deep positions which means he’s up at full speed when breaking past the defence, so his opponents are unable to react quickly enough.

Sturridge’s pace meant Lukasz Fabianski played a very proactive goalkeeping role – he rarely swept up outside his box, but was always alert to the need to dart forward. The same, incidentally, was true of Jones at the other end.

The use of Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was, interestingly, a return to the format used on the flanks in Arsenal’s 2-0 victory at Anfield last season, which is one of Arsenal’s most controlled victories over the past couple of seasons, despite the fact they happily conceded possession, rare for a Wenger side. This is a Liverpool team now less obsessed with possession dominance, but Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain proved useful counter-attackers once Arsenal were 1-0 up – illustrated nicely by the way they later combined for Arsenal’s second goal.

First goal

Scoring the opening goal was crucial for Arsenal – and, like last weekend when Liverpool scored first through Martin Skrtel, Arsenal got their breakthrough following a set-piece.

This shaped the rest of the game, meaning Liverpool had to dominate the contest more, leave space to counter-attack into, and inevitably had less space to break into themselves, too. Combine this and Manchester City’s victory over Chelsea the previous day, and the importance of the first goal is clear.

Gerrard uncomfortable defensively

Although Gerrard was impressive with his distribution, he remains uncomfortable defending against quick counter-attacks solo, which was problematic with his two midfield partners pushing high up the pitch.

His foul on Oxlade-Chamberlain towards the first half was interesting, because Gerrard made no attempt to go for the ball and instead chose the cynical option, underlining his lack of confidence when left protecting the defence. He also fouled Oxlade-Chamberlain later in the game, in a similar incident to the penalty concession at Anfield last week, and it’s clear that to accommodate his good distribution from deep, Liverpool will always be taking a risk defensively.

Liverpool dominate second half

Liverpool were the dominant side after the break, with possession dominance assured and the forwards given more freedom to rotate – Luis Suarez had surprisingly been in a fixed right-wing position for the first half, and the improved movement between he and Sturridge created some decent half-chances.

Without so much space to break into behind the defence, though, Liverpool managed few clear-cut chances compared to last weekend (or the start of this game). This seemed to trouble Coutinho the most – whereas his through-balls last weekend were devastating, here against a deeper defence he didn’t create any chances.

Subs

After an hour Rodgers made a bold substitution, removing Aly Cissokho and introducing Jordan Henderson. This necessitated a reshuffle – Jon Flanagan switched to left-back, and Raheem Sterling was moved into an attacking right-back position.

This caused Arsenal problems in the ten minutes after the switch. Podolski, who rarely lasts 90 minutes and had already brought down Suarez for the penalty, didn’t look comfortable defending against Sterling’s forward charges, and it was surprising that Wenger didn’t immediately rectify this problem. He removed Podolski but brought on Cazorla instead – the man whose drifts inside had exposed his compatriot Nacho Monreal last week at Anfield.

Five minutes later Wenger realised the situation unfolding and called for Kieran Gibbs in place of Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Cazorla moving to the right and Gibbs protecting Monreal. This has been Wenger’s favoured defensive substitution this season, playing two left-backs in tandem, and although it took him a while to make the switch it was highly effective, as Sterling’s influence on the game was minimal with Gibbs tracking his runs.

Arsenal were never entirely comfortable, but equally Liverpool lacked a true plan B upfront to trouble Arsenal’s centre-backs in a more physical sense, and the away side’s best late chances came from Gerrard set-pieces and long balls.

Conclusion

Arsenal were unquestionably better than last weekend, but they depended upon a couple of early Sturridge misses to keep the score at 0-0. From then, though, Arsenal were solid, with the full-backs and wingers deeper and the central midfielders barely advancing. There wasn’t a great deal of attacking threat from Wenger’s side, apart from at set-pieces and on counter-attacks.

Liverpool didn’t do much wrong. On another day Suarez and Sturridge would have produced a goal from nothing, and a draw wouldn’t have been unfair. Rodgers’ attack-minded change was very brave, although once Gibbs was introduced to track Sterling, perhaps Rodgers should have changed something again – perhaps to put Sterling at left-back instead, with Flanagan returning to the right, or even removing Flanagan and bringing on Iago Aspas or Victor Moses, with Henderson going to right-back.

The absence of a tall central striker is another weakness in Liverpool’s squad, and while Rodgers had little interest in keeping Andy Carroll at the club, once opponents realise Liverpool increasingly depend upon breaking into space, a more direct striker could be a wise purchase.

Coutinho may not technically have created any chances, and I agree with your general point, but what you said is a bit misleading since I believe he played the throughball to Sturridge that created the most clear cut chance of the second half–Sturridge just didn’t shoot!

They don’t necessarily need a tall striker, but probably need someone who offers some variety. Aspas offers nothing new, neither does Alberto (for now). Someone better in the air, and capable of holding the ball up, would allow a different type of football.

ElstonGunn on February 18, 2014 at 4:44 pm

The biggest issue I see with that idea is that it would be almost impossible to find such a player that was both a) worth playing for LFC and b) cost effective. Liverpool has the two top goal scorers in England. No manager is going to remove one of them when chasing a game to bring on a Ricky Lambert or even a Michu, as much sense as it might make tactically. Nor would it make sense to play all three of them, as then who’s going to play the crosses for your target man? You’d need a Llorente-type to be worth it, and that just seems like a waste of resources for a club in Liverpool’s position.

I do agree-and Rodgers clearly agrees–that a game-changing bench option is needed against packed defenses. However, I think the needed players are 1) a dribbling wide player that can score goals without having to get behind the defense (Konoplyanka, kind of Robben-lite, would have been a great fit here); and 2) a calmer #10 more comfortable playing in tight areas than Coutinho (Alberto is the right *type* here, but obviously not ready).

Aaron on February 18, 2014 at 1:53 pm

To try to keep some of Stevie G’s hollywood balls in play.

Chung on February 18, 2014 at 1:54 pm

Lets hope Arsene has a similar gameplan against Bayern. Soak up the pressure and counterattack.

Robben on February 18, 2014 at 3:45 pm

That really is the ONLY gameplan Arsenal has against Bayern. The first goal in that game will be of crucial importance to Arsenal.